ISLAMABAD: Pakistani army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa is in Riyadh on an official visit ahead of a visit by Prime Minister Imran Khan to Saudi Arabia later this week, Islamabad’s mission in Riyadh said on Tuesday.
Bajwa arrived in the kingdom on Tuesday, just days before a visit by Khan, who is scheduled to be in Saudi Arabia on May 7-9.
“He [Bajwa] was received by the [Pakistani] Ambassador [to Saudi Arabia] Bilal Akbar & Defense Attache Brig. Haroon Ishaaq Raja,” the Pakistani embassy in Riyadh said.
Last month, an adviser to the PM on the Middle East said his upcoming visit would give a “new dimension and impetus” to Pakistani-Saudi relations.
Khan spoke with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in a wide-ranging phone call in March, accepting an invitation from the Saudi leader to visit the kingdom “in the near future.”
“The Crown Prince invited the Prime Minister to undertake a visit to Saudi Arabia in the near future,” the Pakistani PM’s office had said in a statement. “The Prime Minister graciously accepted the invitation.”
Khan’s entourage will include several members of the cabinet including Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry, and the PM’s adviser on climate change, Malik Amin Aslam.
